Shaw handed England Women's role

The ECB have moved quickly to appoint a new England Women's coach with Paul Shaw replacing Mark Lane, who stood down after five years in the role on May 13.

Shaw, who played for Staffordshire Minor Counties, has been promoted internally and takes on more wide-ranging responsibility than Lane with the role of head coach becoming redundant.

Shaw becomes the new ECB Women's and Girls' high performance manager, with overall responsibility for the performance of the senior England Women's team. He was previously head of England Women's performance.

"The rationale for the role evolving is to reflect the scope and expansion of the England Women's programme and the skill set now required to lead that programme, the coaching/support staff and the players," Clare Connor, ECB head of England Women's cricket, said. "Paul has already made an excellent contribution and has considerable strengths in a range of areas, most notably in leadership, creating high performance cultures and talent development.

"I am wholly confident that Paul has the expertise and dynamism required to ensure that the England Women's team regains its number one world ranking as we embark on a new World Cup cycle."

The ECB had said they hoped to have a successor to Lane installed for the Women's Ashes, which begin on August 11, but the appointment of Shaw means a permanent coach can oversee the first series of the summer, two ODIs and two T20s against Pakistan at the start of July.

Shaw, 45, was born in Burton-on-Trent and played for his home county from 1992 until 2004 appearing 12 times in the NatWest Trophy that became the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy. He scored two half-centuries in those matches, including 55 against Surrey as his side failed to cause an upset by just nine runs.

He went into coaching and began at Barnsley CC - home club of England Women's seamer Katherine Brunt - before working for ICC Europe. He joined the ECB in 2007 as coach education training manager and became England Women's academy coach in 2008 and head of England Women's performance in 2010.

"Paul was one of the first graduates of the ECB's highly successful Level 4 coaching programme," Hugh Morris, ECB managing director - England Cricket, said. "He will now lead a world class programme with increased support from specialist coaches as well as sports science and medicine."

Shaw added: "I am delighted to be taking on this new role and I'm looking forward to the challenge of leading the England Women's cricket team towards achieving number one status in the world, and working with some outstanding players, coaches and support staff as we head into a busy summer of cricket with games against Pakistan, followed by what promises to be an exciting Ashes Series."